Recensioni di Pampas & Selene: The Maze of Demons

Pampas & Selene is a clear homage to MSX classics like Maze of Galious, offering a stripped-down metroidvania experience that skips the frills. It shares a vision with the La-Mulana games, but it ditches complex puzzles and deep lore of the Nigoro game in favor of pure platforming and combat. Given that it comes from the creator of Unepic and Unmetal, I was expecting something laced with parody and irreverent humor. Instead, I found a surprisingly earnest game—one that knows exactly what it wants to be and sticks to that identity with confidence. The best word to describe it is straightforward. If someone told me this was a lightly modernised remaster of a 1987 release, I’d believe them. In a genre that nowadays is torn between trying too hard and leaning too much on modern metroidvania tropes, something this unapologetically crusty feels oddly refreshing. It’s clean, simple—almost naive—and that’s exactly what makes it work. Despite having no dialogue, the two protagonists come through with a surprising amount of personality, thanks to a charming intro cutscene and small in-game details like animations and gameplay mechanics. Pampas is nimble and tough, ideal for close-quarters combat. Selene is slower and more awkward, but her powerful magic makes her a fearsome foe at long range. Being able to swap between characters at any time is one of the game’s strongest features. It adds a layer of strategy, letting you adapt on the fly depending on the situation, the enemies, or on how much health and experience each character has left. The decision to give them separate health and XP bars—and to end the game if either one dies—was definitely smart. Moreover, a level-up fully heals a character, making the XP-optimisation a rewarding way of prolonging the life of our heroes—and saving on money for healing. For a game that looks this simple, it offers a surprisingly generous set of upgrades. These don’t overhaul the core mechanics, but they steadily expand your toolset and keep a sense of progression alive throughout. With upgrades, missions and demon lairs, you always have a few short-term goals to work towards, making the gameplay loop really engaging. The game is also relatively short—I beat it in around 7 hours—which makes the pacing extra tight and focused. That said, the old-school style does have its drawbacks. Quests are basic by design, but they can get repetitive—especially when they involve farming drops or just reaching a point on the map. The minimalist combat works well in general play, but starts to feel limited in boss fights, where more fluid and responsive controls would really help. The bigger offender is the final boss, who is a severe jump in difficulty (and whom you *may* have to beat twice, for spoiler reasons). Their attacks are ruthless and fast-paced, and I routinely found myself failing to dodge not because I didn't know the pattern, but because I was fumbling with the controls. In the end, Pampas & Selene is retro in the purest sense. It doesn’t chase trends or tack on unnecessary complexity. It delivers solid, focused gameplay with the charm of a bygone era. And while it’s not perfect, it wins you over with its honesty and consistency—a nostalgic throwback that knows what it wants to be, and nails it by staying true to that vision. It teaches us that not everything has to try to be a masterpiece. Some games can just be really really solid and fun, and that's enough.